News

Participatory democracy: nurturing active citizenship

Participatory democracy: nurturing active citizenship[10/10/2012]

“All democratic public action should focus on citizens as the main political players in the participatory democracy model,” said Andrée Buchmann, member of the Alsace Regional Council (France) and member of the Congress’s Chamber of Regions, speaking at the World Forum for Democracy in Strasbourg on 9 October 2012 during the working session on “Participatory Democracy: the citizen, an active political player”. She highlighted the need to educate citizens “fully informed of their rights and civic duties.” Pointing to the importance of local and regional authorities in this process, and the initiatives of the Congress such as European Local Democracy Week, Ms Buchmann concluded her address underlining the fact that “by introducing education in democratic citizenship at local and regional level, we will provide citizens with the necessary knowledge, skills and understanding for participating in democratic processes.”
(More...)